1. 这是什么词?
词:prone
英英释义:likely to do something or be affected by something, especially something bad
例句:Japan is prone to earthquakes and typhoons.
2. 为什么选这个词?
“prone”是个形容词,表示“易于…的” “很可能…的”,也就是说它经常可以用来替换 likely, inclined 等表示“有…可能/倾向”的词,是个在口语和写作中都高频实用的表达。
prone 最常见的用法是 be prone to,后面常接有负向意义的名词或者动词。比如日本地形独特,是一个经常遭受地震或台风的国家,我们就可以说:
Japan is prone to earthquakes and typhoons.(be prone to 后接名词的用法)
或者:
Japan is prone to suffer earthquakes and typhoons. (be prone to 后接动词原形的用法)
许多人在接受测试的时候都很容易紧张不安,我们就可以说:
Most people are prone to anxiety during a test.
《经济学人》中就出现过许多这种用法,比如:
But in China and India, young women have been unusually prone to suicide.
prone 的另一个常见用法是与名词连用构成形容词,表示“易受…影响的”,和 be prone to 可以替换实用。比如像美式橄榄球、冰球等对抗性运动的球员往往很容易受伤,我们就可以说:
American football and ice hockey players are prone to injury.
或者:
American football and ice hockey players are injury-prone.
这样 -prone 的用法可以让表达简洁、灵活,比如上面的第一个例句也可以写成:
Japan is earthquake- and typhoon-prone. (注意这里连字符的用法:earthquake- and typhoon-prone 等于 earthquake-prone and typhoon-prone)
我们在阅读中要注意收集这样的表达。
3. 怎样学会使用这个词?
1)使用《牛津英语搭配词典》查“prone”,了解它的常用搭配。
2)翻译下面的句子:
超重人群容易患高血压和高血糖。
Overweight people are prone to high blood pressure and high blood sugar.
People with excess weight are prone to develop high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar.
(参考翻译:Overweight people are prone to high blood pressure and high blood sugar. 或 People with excess weight are prone to develop high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar.)
3)结合自己的生活、学习、工作、兴趣等,想象在什么语境下会用到这个表达。先简要描述这个场景,再造句。
例子: 电视剧
场景 :Why stressed-out Chinese fall for melodrama about life in the imperial court. A bit surprisingly, one of the best things about the Story of Yanxi Palace, a television drama about an 18th-century emperor thathas broken Chinese viewing records this year, is watching concubines being rudeto eunuchs. Even less predictably, the particular rudeness combining scorn,resentment and a dash of fear-offers insights into how Chinese people cope with life in today’s ruthless and unequal society. Yanxi Palace is a gorgeously costumed fantasy, filled with poisonings, betrayals and young women competing for the Forbidden City’s great prize: being bedded by the emperor. Join the army, you might as well become a general, as one ambitious recruit to the harem chirps. The show is driven by female characters, including a kind but sickly empress, murderous concubines and at the heart of the 70-episode epic Wei Yingluo, a quick-witted, justice-seeking maid, who rises to become Qianlong’s beloved consort. The formula is wildly popular, drawing 700m live-streaming views on the drama’s best single day, in August. Yet that night-time scene in the harem reflects some bleak realities of court life. The eunuch is ridiculous, and obsequious to high-ranking concubines. But he is also terrifying. For the concubines live only to please his master, the emperor, an absolute ruler in whose name the guilty and innocent alike are prone to be jailed, executed or exiled without hope of appeal.